JTA — During a press conference last Thursday, organized to address rising antisemitism in the wake of the ramming attack on Temple Israel in Detroit earlier this month, the Oakland County sheriff who helped organize the police response to the incident announced the arrest of what seemed like the latest perpetrator: an individual who had posted an antisemitic meme ridiculing the sheriff.

Sheriff Mike Bouchard displayed the image, featuring his face altered to include a Star of David over his forehead and payot, the sidelocks worn by some Jewish men, dangling near his ears.

“Some pond scum felt empowered and emboldened enough to put this picture of me up to try to threaten and intimidate me,” Bouchard, who is not Jewish, said during the press conference. “And by the way, the person that did this said a bunch of terrible things, not just against me, but against a lot of groups and individuals, who, by the way, was arrested today in Wisconsin.”

But while the arrest was only briefly mentioned during the press conference, which featured Bouchard and a group of religious leaders, including Rabbi Josh Bennett of Temple Israel, by Tuesday, it had been seized on by thousands of users on X as evidence of censorship and Jewish supremacy.

“Arrested in America for pointing out that a sheriff is jewish,” Jake Shields, a far-right influencer and former MMA champion, wrote in a post on X.

“Jews are murdering free speech in America,” wrote........

© The Times of Israel